Voodoo Dice Review

The Good

Great 3D graphics. Lots of stages to complete. Puts some unique twists on a well-worn formula.

The Bad

Can be frustratingly difficult at times. Not especially original.

Voodoo Dice Review

It’s a premise we’ve all seen many times before: you control a block, moving one space at a time, and you’ll have to make your way from one end of a level to the exit on the other side. From iPhone games like Edge to PC puzzlers like Puzzle Dimension, it’s well tread territory. But in spite of this, Voodoo Dice manages to add enough new to the formula to make it worth playing, though at times it can be a little too frustrating for its own good.

You control a single die, using a virtual directional pad on the touch screen to control its movement. The terrain in the game is entirely flat, so you only have to worry about moving forward, backward, left, and right. In each stage there’s an exit, and to beat the stage all you have to do is reach that exit. It’s as simple as that. But of course, it wouldn’t be much of a puzzle game if there weren’t a few obstacles thrown in your way.

First off, you’ll come across several other dice, which you can interact with in different ways. Some need to be cleared out of the way, while others are magnetized, and can be attached to your own die. Both of these types of dice are clearly marked — each sporting a distinctly different look — but the way you interact with them is the same. To either clear away or merge with a die, you need to match the number that it’s showing. So, if the die has a six showing, you need to make sure that when you are beside it, you also have a six showing. It’s a unique twist that fits well with the game’s theme, and it’ll take quite a bit of practice before you get the hang of it.

The rest of the obstacles are fairly standard fare. You’ll come across teleporters that whisk you across the screen, switches that need to be pushed to open up new areas, stone statues that need to be pushed on these switches, and conveyor belts that force your die along a pre-determined path. But even though these are all familiar to puzzle game fans, the way Voodoo Dice combines them ensures that you’ll still be given quite the challenge.

Beating a stage requires careful planning. In many cases it’s very easy to put yourself in a situation where you’re stuck and are forced to restart the level. You might have pushed a statue too far or put it in an inaccessible spot, or you might have even fallen off the edge of the screen. But either way, it’s a frustrating experience to have to restart, especially if you’ve put a good amount of time into a level.

There’s a lot to like about Voodoo Dice — it looks great, it’s easy to pick up and play in short bursts, and it includes a good amount of stages to complete — but this is diminished somewhat by its occasionally frustrating difficulty level. But if you can look past those moments of annoyance, Voodoo Dice could very well become your next iPhone puzzle addiction.